Gulf oil spill claiming dolphin's lives?

As we approach the one year anniversary of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oilrig in the Gulf of Mexico, there is renewed interest in the questions which many of us began asking last April: How serious is this spill? How long will the impacts last, and how far will they reach? Can we trust BP or the government when they say everything is fine?

The truth is starting to come out, and it is not pretty. Four more dead baby dolphins washed up on Horn Island, Mississippi this week. When Greenpeace visited Horn Island last September, we found beaches covered in oily tar balls—and dolphins swimming offshore.

Now twenty-eight dead dolphins have been found already this year, eighteen of them newborns. NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) confirmed that the number of strandings is unusually high, and is working with the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies to investigate whether the oil spill is responsible.

If what we saw last year is any indication, it may be a very long time before we hear anything definitive from the government on this. But for most of us, this looks… fishy.

And it’s not just the dolphins.

In a presentation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Samantha Joye, a scientist at the University of Georgia, reported that the impact of BP’s oil disaster on the deep sea marine life of the Gulf was “devastating.” Using the Alvin submersible to explore the area near the origin of the spill, scientists found a thick layer of oil still carpeting the bottom.

"Filter-feeding organisms, invertebrate worms, corals, sea fans—all of those were substantially impacted—and by impacted, I mean essentially killed,” said Dr. Joye in an interview with the BBC.

It is going to take years before we can understand the full impact of the BP Horizon disaster on the ecosystem and coastal communities of the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps the most important question now is whether President Obama and Secretary Salazar will recognize that fact and call a halt to new offshore drilling, or whether they will allow companies like BP and Shell to move forward with their plans to drill in the remote, pristine waters of the Arctic.

John Hocevar is the director of Greenpeace USA's oceans campaign. He is based in Washington, D.C.

To read about the discovery of dead dolphins and their babies is horrendous. Surely this sends a clear message to oil companies about the responsibli...

To read about the discovery of dead dolphins and their babies is horrendous. Surely this sends a clear message to oil companies about the responsiblitities they have to ensure the protection of marine life world wide. governmentsa need to stand up and demand even more stringent controls and penalties for breaches of environmental protection !

Post a comment

OPTIONAL: Register to avoid filling out forms each time you post a comment
Sign Up Here
login via Facebook or Google

(Unregistered) quasi44
says:

While knowing how hard it is to get environmental issues heard and responded to in a comprehensive manner, I'd like to suggest a bit of investigation ...

While knowing how hard it is to get environmental issues heard and responded to in a comprehensive manner, I'd like to suggest a bit of investigation into the REAL amount of oil spilled into the Gulf. My suspicion has been that this spill, while obviously significantly harmful, was largely a corporate scam. The responses to it, in the form of chemicals, are now the problem. No significant spill has ever disappeared like this, though the compounds used are the same. Occam's Razor suggests that the easiest explanation to all the missing oil is that much of it never existed. If this is true, then it will be done again and again. It could easily end up being more harmful than a single major spill. I suggest this suspicion to Greenpeace International for one reason. If Greenpeace finds that the spill was a scam, and that 120 billion barrels of oil did not actually spill into the Gulf, and that the damage we are seeing now is resulted from widespread use of chemicals; it WILL be believed. Greenpeace has never said that something was less before.

Post a comment

OPTIONAL: Register to avoid filling out forms each time you post a comment
Sign Up Here
login via Facebook or Google

(Unregistered) Goret
says:

I believe is a very important problem what is happening in the Gulf I can tell you because I´m living in that part of the country and I can see a...

I believe is a very important problem what is happening in the Gulf I can tell you because I´m living in that part of the country and I can see all the damages. First, I think the company has to think about the possible consequences and in the future damage on the animals, because the dolphins are animals which are unique and not only the dolphins but all the ecosystem of the sea, the government has to create new laws about this kind of problem.

Post a comment

OPTIONAL: Register to avoid filling out forms each time you post a comment
Sign Up Here
login via Facebook or Google

terry
says:

anybody reading this with a facebook account needs to share it with all friends.
marine life is seriously damaged and wiil take decades to rebou...

anybody reading this with a facebook account needs to share it with all friends.
marine life is seriously damaged and wiil take decades to rebound.when i say damaged i mean that the death toll is constant and across the board affecting all areas and is not improving.
people are now showing poisoning side effects and dying.
what is the goverment and bp doing.
nothing they both split and have left the wildlife and residents of the gulf to deal with it on there own with no assistance or aid of any kind.
no matter where your from this affects you because what happens here can happen anywhere.
if the goverment and bp get away with non action here the next goverment and polluter will reference this and likewise do nothing.
broadcast this news anyway you can,keep the spotlight on, ask greenpeace to raise the profile on this and support the gulf.